Glass was breaking everywhere as the two thugs began tossing Mitch around the house. Mitch was spitting up blood now as he lay upon the floor, the target of their pointed black shoes. Brenda was pleading for them to stop. Tears were rolling down her eyes as the man she loved was getting the shit beaten out of him.
“Please!” Brenda screamed, trying to get their attention, hoping they would stop their tirade on Mitch. “Stop,” she wailed pleading to the guy who had her long hair wrapped in his fist. “Don’t hurt him! Please! Don’t kill him! Don’t!” Without thinking clearly, and reacting merely on impulse, Brenda relented, “I’ll pay it back; I’ll do whatever; just stop hurting him!”
“Vito! Vinnie! Hold up!” The two thugs stopped kicking the helpless Mitch, who was now twitching uncontrollably on the floor, writhing in pain. The leader pulled back on Brenda’s hair, forcing her to look up at him through blurry, tear-filled eyes. “Do I understand you correctly?” His voice was calm and eerie as each word was clearly emphasized for Brenda. “You are going to repay the debt?” Again, each word was spoken slowly with a deliberate pause between each strained word. “You will do whatever Big Mac says?” The sentences were sinking into Brenda’s calming brain, now that they had ceased their havoc on Mitch. Brenda quickly realized the implications of what she had just said and was considering recanting her earlier statements. “You agree to assume his debt? You agree to do whatever, to pay it all back?” This time, Brenda noticed, the deliberate pauses between words had disappeared. The words flowed together a little faster than normally, a drastic difference to the way he spoke earlier. Brenda wasn’t sure what she was getting into, agreeing into a deal with the unsavory characters. She hesitated announcing her decision, indicating that she was truly unwilling to agree to whatever their terms would be.
The long silence was broken when the leader called out, “Vito; Vinnie!” Without further command, the two began assaulting Mitch once again. Brenda couldn’t bear the sight, or the sound of what seemed like fragile bones breaking upon contact with the pointed shoes. “I’ll do it,” she screamed, halting the actions of Vito and Vinnie, and silencing the cries of Mitch. “Yes,” Brenda cried, “I’ll pay it back; just please stop.”
At that moment, Mitch knew the fight was over. He knew Brenda had been broken, along with a couple of his ribs. He knew that his, and Brenda’s, life would be forever changed from this point forward. All Mitch could muster was a defeated groan when he heard Brenda relent to the pressure. Brenda also sighed at the sudden release of pressure in her head, feeling the tight grip release her hair.
Within moments, the man behind Brenda had fetched his cell phone, and was calling in to Big Mac. As he waited, he motioned to Vito and Vinnie to put Mitch back into the chair. Mitch doubled over, clutching his ribs, trying to relieve the pain and pressure. “Mac? Carmine here! He doesn’t have the money, but the lady here says she’s willing to repay the debt.” Carmine paced between Mitch and Brenda as he talked to Big Mac. Brenda could feel her stomach tighten into knots as she imagined her fate. “Yeah! She said she’d do ‘ANYTHING’!” Brenda didn’t like the way he emphasized the last word. She also didn’t like the way he stared at her when he said it. He paced once again, Brenda’s eyes following him closely, as she tried to eavesdrop on the conversation, to no avail. “Okay! You sure? Will do!” Carmine then snapped the phone closed. He looked squarely at Brenda, with his back to Mitch. “Big Mac said …”
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